Hi Everyone,
I really need some help with this.
We are building a new passive solar house. We have an awesome block with and north backyard and we are optimising the design to take advantage of this. We are aiming to make the house as sustainable as possible but we want to be comfortable. We are looking at building in EcoBlock, with double glazed PVC windows and doors, grey water system for watering the garden and also rain water tanks...
So here's the thing the house will end up essentially air-tight so we will need to take this into account for heating and cooling. I figure we need an ERV (energy recovery ventilation system) as a starting point then we need a bit of supplemental heating and cooling. I would love hydronic in-slab heating although this may be over-kill if the design is good but I hate ducted central heating (blowing dust and drying out my skin). As for cooling not sure if in-slab cooling actually works. Some kind of integrated heating / cooling / ventilation system would be good.
Any one got any ideas?
Also I guess things like kitchen range hoods and bathroom extractions fans are a bit questionable (as far as I understand it) in this type of house. So I was wondering if a balanced flow ERV will do a lot of this for us and then just need a recirculating range hood in the kitchen?
If anyone has done heating / cooling and ventilation for this type of house I would love to know what systems you used. One more thing is that we are looking at building a laundry drying cupboard instead of a tumble drier, so ideas for this would be great...
So confused by all the systems that we could use, so so help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Felicity